


Carpe Diem

by Tastefulcucumber



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Astrid has an axe, Betrayal, Bi-Curiosity, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexuality, Carpe Diem, Coming Out, Dragons, Fluff, Gen, Hatred, Homophobia, Islands, Killing, M/M, Minor Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson, Pets, Violence, War, What-If, but only in the very beginning and it is very much just implied, chief - Freeform, eventual OC, finding yourself, hiccup doesn't care about astrid that much, hiccup leaves, lying, old vs new, village, warships, what would happen if Hiccup did leave
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 21:17:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5759137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tastefulcucumber/pseuds/Tastefulcucumber
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup left when he said he would, and he did not let Astrid stop him this time. He leaves for good, in search for a better life where he doesn’t have to live in a village of hatred towards could-be peaceful creature. He finds a new village faraway, that treats Dragons like Pets, not hated creatures. He meets new people, better people, and begins to gain an open mindset about things that he had recently never even though of before. But what happens when when he sees familiar warship on the horizon? The old Village never did stop looking for the Chief's son...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hiccup Leaves for Good

He needs to get out. Hiccup can’t handle it anymore: the false pride; the pats on the back for something he never did, nor can, do. Hiccup didn’t want to kill dragons. But it seemed like he had no choice, its what the village wanted. What his father wanted. What his mother would have wanted…

But he can’t do it. He can’t physically do it. Physically, emotionally, behaviorally, nothing. 

Hiccup made up his decision. He was going to leave. Tonight. He new if he didn’t leave tonight that he would have to kill that dragon. The whole village would be their to see him fail. To see him brake down after subduing the dragon, panting to himself that he can’t. He won’t.

He can’t let anyone see that.

He wouldn’t be missed anyway. 

The only reason anyone started paying any attention to the boy was because he was good at ‘bring down’ dragons in his training. If he were going to ‘disappear’ there would be talk, yes. But only for a while. Maybe a week or two. Then everyone would have forgotten him. 

Hiccup through together a travel back out of his basket he normally used to feed Toothless. All the clothes he owned didn’t fill up half of the basket, so he also stole some nuts and bolts along with some steel rods, just in case he ever needed to fix his dragon’s caudal fin. He grabbed some extra cloth, and bundled some bread and cheese into the cloth before putting that in the basket also. Hiccup put on his riding gear that he had hand crafted himself, and took one last look at his bedroom before gathering up his drawings of dragons on his desk, throwing them into the blazing fire that was heating the house, and exiting his old home. Out with the old, and in with the new.

Astrid didn’t mean to follow him. Okay, that’s a lie, she did mean to follow him, but not originally. She was raging as she flung her axe into the same tree time after time. She was determined to win the next dragon training session. Hiccup was not going to stop her. She stopped herself from pulling her axe from the wood of the spruce when she heard the crack of a stick and some ruffle of grass. A tuff of long brown hair emerged from behind a tree a few meters away. 

Astrid watched as Hiccup, hauling a giant woven basket on his back and dressed in weird leather armor trudged through the woods, heading north, away from the village. 

Where was he going? Was he going to meet up with a secret trainer of his? Was that how he was so good at fighting dragons? Did he have a private trainer? Well, Astrid wasn’t going to stand there and do nothing. She was going to find out for herself what Hiccup was up to, and why he was always gone during the day. 

She followed stealthily after him. He was so loud that even if Astrid made a noise, Hiccup wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between him and someone following after him.

Hiccup started to slow his pace, and as he passed a large boulder, he ran his hand across it. Suddenly he spun around, and Astrid leapt to jump behind a tree, but wasn’t quick enough.

“A-Astrid? What are you doing here?” Hiccup almost jumped out of his skin when he spun around to see the blonde girl following close behind him. She was now trying to hide behind a tree that was twice as thin as she was.

“A better question to ask,” Astrid began, emerging from her pitiful hiding spot, “Is where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“Um…” Hiccup started to think, but after only a hesitant second, Astrid started to press some more.

“Are you training with someone? If so, I want to know who. You are to take me to them, you can’t hog all the best training for yourself!”

Training? Is that what Astrid thought? Well, if that’s so, Hiccup would just go along with it. It was better than the truth.

“How did you find out about my training?” Hiccup lied smoothly.

“Aha!” Astrid exclaimed. “So you are training with someone!”

“You wern’t suppose to find out about this. Oh boy, I can’t let them know!”

“Them!?”

“Yes, the dragon Masters.” Hiccup continued, trying not to laugh.

“Masters? Do you mean there are other people on this island that are not apart of the tribe?”

“No, I never said this island.”

Astrid was truly confused.

“Then what-” Astrid began, but was interrupted by a horrible screech. 

Toothless came out of no where and jumped on the unsuspecting girl. 

“Toothless! Stop!”

All Astrid could do was scream her lungs out. She was on the ground with the dragon covering her body. 

The dragon stopped with Hiccups one command and a gentle hand to his back. Toothless backed up, releasing Astrid from his makeshift prison. Astrid took this opportunity to sit up quickly then collide her fist to the dragon’s mouth. A fast whimper came out of toothless, and then he attacked. In one smooth motion, Toothless swept his tail back, then swung it at lightning speed, hitting Astrid hard on the stomach. She fell backwards, and did not make a noise as her head hit the ground hard.

Toothless growled at the back of his throat. Hiccup realized he only wanted to protect him, but that didn’t stop Hiccup from letting out a whimper of his own and run to Astrid’s side. He checked her breathing, and to his relief, she was. He dragged her limp body so it sat up against the boulder near them, and then turned to Toothless.

“We need to leave.” Toothless didn’t understand, but Hiccup mounted the dragon anyways, took the reigns, and guided him up above the trees and into the horizon.

Astrid woke up with a start. It was dark, and she could hear a coyote howl in the distance and the crickets chirping under legs. Where was she? Why was she in the forest? Then she remembered…

“Hiccup!?” She shouted into the wilderness, and tried to stand up quickly, but was met with a strong pain in her abdomen. “Hi- Hiccup?” She sounded frightened now, her voice went to a low whisper. “Oh no…”

Hiccup… The Nightfury… Wait, A Nightfury! Why, no one has ever seen a Nightfury before! She was the first! Wait until the village found out! The village! Maybe Hiccup escaped? But he just left her there? Man, when Astrid finds him, he is going to be so dead for leaving her alone in the wilds. 

Astrid approached the village within an hour. She quickly learned by the way that every door was shut that it was sometime late at night. Without the sun, she couldn’t estimate a specific time. The first thing she did was knock hard on the Chief’s door. This was important after all. She expected Hiccup to be inside, she really did. That’s why she wasn’t too worried on what would happen if she didn’t find him.

She heard a “Who the hell is at the door at this time?” Before the door was roughly pulled in and the Chief dressed in his bed tunic was shown scowling at the frame. 

“Did Hiccup make it back?” Astrid asked, not caring how horrifying the chief looked at the moment. Or how weird the situation must have seemed if one did not know the details of why she was asking. 

“What? I haven’t seen Hiccup all night. He will be back later I suppose. Why do you need to know at this hour? What is the point of waking me up when you could have asked in the morning, girl?” Astrid ignored the rude tone of voice and being called, ‘girl’, like it was an insult. She was too busy standing with her mouth open in horror and realization. 

“He- he- is not… Home?” Astrid asked with a shaky breath. The chief now looked at her, concerned.

“Is he suppose to be? Did something happen?” Astrid never heard the Chief sound so worried in her seventeen years of existence. 

“I saw him in the woods! He was carrying something on his back. He wore armor. He said something about a trainer! And then there was a Nightfury! Oh my god! The Nightfury!”

“Nightfury?” The chief asked shakelly.

“What the fu- What are you even going on about, girl! No one has ever seen a Nightfury! Hiccup has never seen a trainer in his life, besides the same one you’ve got!” His voice was now raised in fury. 

“Sir, please, listen! I talked to him in the woods! He said there was multiple trainers on another island! Then- a dragon that I had never seen before! Black, green eyes. Horrible green eyes. Scales down its back. It jumped on me! Hiccup did something to it, then I helped by hitting it, and then it… I woke up not that long ago against the boulder in the woods a few kilometers from the stream! What if it got to him!”

“Black dragon?” The chief asked in awe.

“Yes! I think it was a Night-”

“Are you sure?” The Chief asked hurriedly.

“Yes! I swear to the Gods!”

“You haven’t seen my boy?” He ushered nervously.

Astrid shuck her head no, and then rubbed her eyes to stop a few angry tears from following down, betraying her. Vikings did not cry.


	2. Wales

Hiccup looked back again and again at the forest as he flew away on Toothless. He was worried about Astrid. What if other dragons got her? She had no idea how to deal with the dragons. He shouldn’t have left. He should have never left, but fear drove him more than honor, so he left the girl lying against a popular known boulder. She would know her way back when she came to. Or that’s what he hoped.

He rode out across the ocean for many miles the first week. They would stop at the occasional small deserted island to find food and maybe a stream. The islands they landed on were never more than two miles across. Hiccup didn’t know what he was looking for. He wasn’t particularly looking for anything. Maybe one of the islands would speak to him, tell him that he should land here, make a new life here. But so far, none of the small islands were suitable for the young boy and his dragon to live from. Resources were minimal, and trees were rare. There was nothing to make shelter with, and they only stumbled across drinking water once in a Blue Moon.

It was two weeks into flying around the world that Hiccup saw the first island big enough to cover his visibility of the ocean on the other side. The closer they flew towards the large island, the more and more land they could see. This island might be as big as Berk! Maybe it is even larger than his old home. Hiccup leaned into Toothless’s ear and stated: “We should land on the beach, bud.” And the dragon obeyed. Within a few minutes they landed on a clean white beach that looked out on a coral reef. Horrible for ships, ships would never be able to land near the island. Or at least, on this side of the island. The coral reef was a half a mile long out and then gently faded into the deep blue of the ocean. The water above the reef was a pristine teal color, with patches of green and brown above the sea.

Toothless sunk his claws into the fresh sand and scooped out a thin bed to lay in. Hiccup took off the riding gear and their wicker basket and put it into a pile on the beach. He ran a hand through his ever-growing hair, in awe of the island’s beauty. The beach was long, but not long enough to be able to see the lush forest spilling into the ocean. In the distance, pines mix with cattails to create strange foliage. A Willow sits out in the sea by itself, bottom emerged in water. Behind the beach, the forest continues, lush and deep. If there is a stream, or some kind of fresh water, this would be the perfect island to make home. As big as the island seems, it seems very likely that finding water shouldn’t be too difficult. He and Toothless could take to the skies to scan the island, searching the landscape for water or any fruit trees or wild grains. This could be it!

“I think we found it, bud.” Hiccup murmured under his breath, knowing that his dragon probably went fast asleep in his sand bed. By the looks of the sun, it was well past midday. Night was getting closer and closer, so Hiccup opened the basket and took out the last of the cheese, only a small chunk, and had that for his dinner. Eating less and riding for close to half a month left Hiccup very weak. His already slim frame was now sickly skeletal, and he developed a small rash on his forearm from who knows where. He was definitely not a picture of health.

After eating the small ration, he curled up to Toothless and waited as the island slowly approached.

 

* * *

 

It was deserted. The beach was grown up with pollinating cattails and prickly thorns. Toothless couldn’t stop sneezing - whenever the wind blew cattail seeds would swirl around and cover the sky – and Hiccup knew he had to find food for himself and water for the both of them.

He stomped through the weeds, knats covering his field of vision and crickets jumping over his feed.

“I can’t do this, Toothless- come on, bud.” Hiccup climbed back onto his dragon’s back. Maybe there was some part of the island that wasn’t grown over? It would be easier to spot water while airborn, also.

A few kilometers out, and the weeds turned to woods, but there was no signs of a lake or river.

“Go higher, please.” Toothless happily obeyed, turning the wooded landscape into a foggy mass.

“Do you see any water? Any safe place to land?”

Toothless didn’t respond.

A few minutes later, the woods ended, and Hiccup feared that was the end of the island. At this rate, they would be dead in no time. There was nothing left in the basket. Maybe they would have to make dinner on those crickets he saw earlier-

“Woah!” Toothless lunged downward, giving Hiccup no time to prepare himself. Hiccup swung his arms into the homemade saddle and waited to see what his dragon had seen that made him lunge like that.

The fog in the trees faded into a grass field. Then Hiccup saw what Toothless did- a Hut.

Hiccup held his breath as Toothless made a rough landing for him.

After catching his bearings, Hiccup slid off the dragon, and wabbled a few steps towards the hut.

“Uh-” Should he shout to see if anyone would respond? What if the owner of the stone and mud hovel didn’t speak english? What if they killed intruders on sight? He decided to have a look around before attempting to possibly engage with the person who lived here. The hut might even be abandoned.

As Hiccup approached the structure, he noticed a pile of fish covered in netting. Trout. That meant two things, first- someone lived here, and they just finished gathering their dinner, and secound- there was freshwater somewhere nearby.

He spotted an empty clothesline and a barrel of water- possibly rainwater- outside. If this person were willing to give Hiccup a fish or two and a drink of water… He tried to not get his hopes up. He didn’t even know if he was going to be killed yet for trespassing.

“ _Helo_?” Hiccup darted his head in the direction of the voice, and prepared himself to make a run for it.

“Hello?”

“ _Pwy sydd yna_?” An old man with a dead doe strapped to his back and arrows in his hand made his way towards him, while Hiccup kept his eyes on the bow.  
  
“I don't know?” Hiccup questioned, highly doubting he would get a response in his own language.

“Laust are yeh, son?” He spoke in a very rough accent, “Come from thee East?”

“No, what island is this?”

“Island? This here is thee mainland, son.”

“Mainland?” Hiccup didn’t quite know what that was.

“You’d be in _Cymru_. Are yeh not from Wessex?”

“No?” Hiccup didn’t know of Wessex.”

“You’d not be from Danelaw? We don’t take too kindly to the Danes around these parts-”

“No, I am from Berk.”

“Baerick? Is that Scotland Territory? We’vnt got any traders from Scot-”

“No, Berk is an island all by itself, far from any other island. I’m not a trader either. Just a… traveler.”

“May it be in the Bay?”

“I think I came from the south. I don’t really know, I wasn’t really looking for anywhere in particular.”

“Oh no, son, you must be careful where yeh travel, the end of the world is somewhere in the west, nothing but water out there neither.”

Hiccup didn’t know what to say to that. Had he travelled in a different direction, he might have never found another island until he had reached the edge of the world.

“Is there more than just you here?” Hiccup asked, hoping there was a village nearby.

“What you mean, son? We be on the mainland, remember? You be in _Cymru_. Wales. Somedays traders come by and don’t know what I mean by _Cymru_ , they call us Wales, me be daft at the reason to it. Britons be east of here, and even farther, the Danes. Go North and you be reaching the Scots, Go south and you be reaching Frankish Territory. Have had traders from Brittany as well.”

“Well, could you tell me where the nearest village is?”

“North of here, not very long to get too. A few hours on foot, I’d say.”

“Thank you so much. I highly appreciate it. And may I ask, how do you control you’re dragons here? I haven’t seen any scorched land yet.”

“Dragons? No, they tend to stay away from here. Hunters everywhere, but we do have a few trained ones in town. Use them for travel.” Hiccup was in awe. Dragons used for travel? Have these people domesticated them just like he did with Toothless? Hunters sound like bad news, but if he stayed in the towns and didn’t let Toothless fly around without him, hunters wouldn’t be an issue, right?

“Oh. Just that, where I’m from, Dragons are killed for our safety. There’s too many of them, and they like to burn anything we’ve built. Not that I agree with killing them or anything. It’s what we – I mean, they – do.”

“Right, well, you won’t be finding much dragons around these parts. Nothing to worry about, lad. I’ll see you again, perhaps?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Probably not, though. Hiccup wanted to know about these other places the man was talking about. What was a Scotland? Or a Danelaw?

But he couldn’t focus on theses strange places yet. He needed to focus on finding the village. Finding food, water, and shelter for him and Toothless.

Then, after that, Hiccup could go on to see what else Wales had to offer.


End file.
